Stances on Bison?
- Thread starter Hammsolo
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That wolf distribution map could use an update
Carl 9.3x62
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Yes, I do feel the same way about grizzlies and wolves.
TheJason
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Montana absolutely should have free roaming bison. Can you imagine the upper Ruby and Snowcrest with bison?
I bet the bison bogeyman would diminish when landowners started selling bison hunts.
I bet the bison bogeyman would diminish when landowners started selling bison hunts.
TheJason
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Sorry, I’m not tracking here.
MTLabrador
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I’d love a Snowcrest bison hunt. I’d love to hunt the wilderness portion of 385 for bison too if I had a pack string.
marksjeep
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Best game meat I've ever put in the freezer. Would also like to see more free ranging herds. Awesome animal, deserves far more respect than we seem to give it.
Bluffgruff
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Colorado ballot initiative for bison reintroduction? If wolves squeaked by, I imagine bison would thunder through.
Bluffgruff
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Our bison would be so damn respectful of ranchers and fences that you'd be asking them over for tea.
TheJason
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Guess we know who isn’t a visionary pioneer.
Not that it matters anyway, the MT legislature views bison on about the same love as prairie dogs. Sounds like Idaho is similar.
Not that it matters anyway, the MT legislature views bison on about the same love as prairie dogs. Sounds like Idaho is similar.
SD_Prairie_Goat
Well-known member
Bison is a dream hunt of mine. Might take a bit though, because if I'm going after a bison I'm getting either a bison pelt blanket or rug made, and that from what I can tell it's not a cheap endeavor.
Maybe I'll set a goal to hunt a bison by 32. Now with most the house fire stuff over, I can put money into my bison fund again
Maybe I'll set a goal to hunt a bison by 32. Now with most the house fire stuff over, I can put money into my bison fund again
buffybr
Well-known member
Their Latin name is bison bison. For hundreds of years here in America we called them Buffalo. We had the buffalo nickel, Buffalo NY, Buffalo Wy, etc. How many other animals do we call by their Latin name? In recent years biologists have been calling them bison because they are not a true buffalo like the African Cape buffalo or the Asian Water buffalo. So what? Just call them American Buffalo like we've been doing for hundreds of years.
As for buffalo not jumping fences, THEY DO! They can (and do) break down wire fences. The perimeter fences on the Flyinbg D Ranch are just 4 strand barb wire. I have a picture that my son took many years ago of a bull bullalo in mid air jumging a fence on the Flying D.
A friend of mine is a hunting guide on the Flying D, and I have another friend that worked both on the Flying D and Truner's Snowcrest Ranch feeding and managing the buffalo there. Both of those guys have many stories of buffalo jumping and going through fences.
I also think that it would be great if buffalo were restored to their historic range. Unfortunately our modern society wouldn't allow it.
kwyeewyk
Well-known member
Watched a big bull try to jump the guard rails at the bison range in Moise after he blasted through the squeeze chute before we could squeeze him. Not sure what the actual height is on those corrals there but I'd say close to 8 feet. He got his front feet over and blew his nose out on the top rail then fell back in. Caught him the second time through, felt sorry for him there with his nose bleeding everywhere getting an arm stuck up his ass!
One of my favorite animals, I'm fascinated by all aspects of their life history, cultural history, management issues.
One of my favorite animals, I'm fascinated by all aspects of their life history, cultural history, management issues.
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
As far as nomenclature and semantics, "bison" or "buffalo", both have come to be acceptable. No controversy here; move along.
Anecdotal stories of bulls of any species jumping high fences are dramatic and interesting ... but the reality is that bison are not jumping fences regularly and are not causing problems for neighbors of the Flying D or other bison ranches ... fact! The overdramatization of buffalo-mania in fears of vast devastation of trampled crops and prize Hereford heifers being raped by Tatonka is the myth driven paranoia of UPOM and even a former Montana Senate Fish & Game legislative committee chair.
Any species being restored to historical range is not hampered by "modern society" not allowing it, although you are right, it wouldn't be widely accepted. It's due to a greater factor of the proliferation of pavement, subdivisions, ranchettes, residential and commercial developments constituting the growing constant hardscape of "historical range".
(Tune up Joni Mitchell's YELLOW TAXI for an enjoyable song in premonition of habitat loss.)
There's a lot of legitimate concern about what happens when there are wild bison. Brucellosis is the biggest one that I've heard along with a sincere concern about interbreeding between bison and cows, destroying a lineage that a producer has spent a lot of time, money and energy developing. Destruction of crops ranks right up there as well as human safety.
Bison are a much different animal than elk, deer or pronghorn, and most states recognize this in how they manage those animals. Wyoming & Utah do really well on this. Wyoming's herd is largely just in the Jackson Hole region with some egress out of the park on the east side where it is predominantly public land with little to no cattle intermingling. Utah works with the neighboring landowners and grazing permittees to ensure that the herds they have minimize conflict. Montana's legal requirements for wild bison that have been translocated are extremely landowner friendly as well, and there are strict prohibitions on the kind of animal that cvan be translocated, but after the 21 session, there will be no state sponsored bison transplants that will occurr for at least a generation.
@mtmuley , in his usual loquacious style, is providing the counter balance to those who want to see bison someplace, but aren't concerning themselves with the other side of the coin. It's the biggest piece of the translocation puzzle.
